Be Still my Soul – Just Breathe

Be still, my soul, the Lord is on thy side;
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change He, faithful, will remain.Be still, my soul, thy best, thy heavenly friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

There are many instances in ancient texts and in the sacred texts where poets and composers speak to their souls.

Be still my soul.

In other words – be still my mind, my will and emotions.

This is the practice of mindfulness. It is acknowledging that it is helpful for us to self speak. To self soothe.

Our brains are plastic. Our words matter. We may not be able to change the circumstances but we can change our response to it. We do have the ability to come to stillness in the middle of the storm even though our natural response is ‘fight and flight’.

Meditation of sacred texts like the Psalms can also help. King David in the bible speaks to his soul many times.

Its important to have awareness of our thoughts, feelings, surroundings and bodies. It takes practice which is why it is an exercise. Just as it takes practice to play an instrument or to get fit, we also have to train our minds, our emotions to be still. Once we train the mind to stop, be still and listen, we become ready to open up to our soul’s inner workings and allow silence to help us unravel the spinning of our minds and thoughts.

We’re interrupting your regular mindfulness news roster to bring you:

Children talking about mindfulness. Because, really, after hearing mindfulness’ benefits trumpeted from Wall Street to ABC News to practically everywhere else, we could use a little plain language. A little straight talk—from little people.

In the four-minute film, kinder-gardeners talk about coping with emotions and using meditation and breathing techniques. Filmmakers Julie Bayer Salzman and Josh Salzman created “Just Breathe” with their son, classmates, and family members one Saturday afternoon.

“The film is entirely unscripted,” says Julie. “What the kids say is based purely on their own neuro-scientific understanding of difficult emotions, and how they cope through breathing and meditation.

“They, in turn, are teaching us all.”

Love Lisa

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